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HN Issue 18 | Travel Journal: Learning to Trust the Process

I first visited Bufukhula, Uganda in 2013, attending their well-earned graduation ceremony from Food for the Hungry (FH) programming.

After helping to support the partnership between my church and the community for nine years, for me, it was now or never. I felt like I was late to the party, though, arriving after all of the hard work had been done.The graduation was a joyous occasion, but I, personally, didn’t come away elated. I had to face a few hard facts about the current situations of some of our sponsored children. While many families were benefiting greatly from the dairy program, not all families had yet received the benefit. As with most things, it would take time for everyone to get there. I felt there was still so much more that we could do for those children, and I wasn’t fully ready to let go.My return trip to Uganda in March of this year started out with some reservations, some real concern about finding the same hard to accept situations I had witnessed during my Bufukhula visit in 2013. Yet this time, I had the benefit of being a “veteran ”- having more knowledge of the FH model and more fully trusting in what God had in store for our partners and for ourselves.I wasn’t disappointed. Although my team and I were there to visit Nashisa, our new partnered community, we also had the opportunity to return to Bufukhula for a day. I was able to visit one former sponsored child, a teen-aged girl named Esther. To my delight and relief, she continues to do very well in school, is involved in the community church, and her family had recently received a dairy calf.
We also attended a Bufukhula leadership meeting and witnessed firsthand the subtle wisdom and encouragement the FH staff offered the community leaders, empowering them to resolve a challenge regarding the licensing of the medical clinic. Having left Bufukhula behind, my church and I saw a community building on confidence. As we enter Nashisa, the neighbouring community to Bufukhula, we see a community filled with excited anticipation of the changes to come.During our visit, we came to fully understand how the FH model of community development continues to work in Bufukhula long after our partnership, as well as FH programming (and funding), there ended. And we were thrilled to see how it is now working in our new partnered community of Nashisa. We are not there to meet every need. We are not there to tell the community what to do. Rather, along with FH, we are there to offer support to build on the resources of what the communities have already. To empower them to solve their own problems. To help build their confidence. To show them how to strengthen community and how to support one another through our presence and our support. We left Uganda with a reinforced hope that poverty can be overcome and with the desire to revisit our partnered community again – as spoken so often from the lips of our hosts – God willing.

LYNN WITH FORMERLY SPONSORED CHILD ESTHER

Lynn Perez lives in North Vancouver with her husband, Willie. Together, they attend CAP Church who has partnered with Ugandan communities through FH Canada for many years.

CAP CHURCH TEAM POSES WITH FH UGANDA STAFF

NABUKWASI BIRRA, HEADMASTER OF NASHISA PRIMARY SCHOOL

THIS FH COW HAS ENABLED A PROUD FARMER TO SEND HIS CHILDREN TO UNIVERSITY

THE GENEROSITY OF A UGANDAN FAMILY - THE GIFT OF FRESH EGGS!

BUFUKHULA LEADERSHIP TEAM

WOMAN WEAVES CLOTH TO SUPPORT HER FAMILY

LYNN & HUSBAND WILLIE (RIGHT) POSE WITH A NASHISA FAMILY AND CAP TEAM MEMBERS